AniMat's Reviews - Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
AniMat's Reviews - Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is the 86th episode of AniMat's Reviews, and is the 4th episode of 2017 It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's an egg salad sandwich... NO it's Dreamworks animation's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Based on the novels created by Dav Pilkey) (As a review in prospective who grew up with the books) As with AniMat reviews the film, as faithful to the books, with some witty humor he gave it a positive review with a score of an 8/10 for these reasons: * The Story: (As for anybody who read the books) The story is half-faithful, yet half-original. As it did take the elements that they either have to change or add in in order to make the story flow naturally, by taking elements from the 1st and 4th novel, along with some elements from the 2nd in order to fill in the gaps. Through out the film it's very true to the books it was based on, even some elements that are not from them, they can be recognized to Dav Pilkey's works. But what can combine everything is the tone of the feature, as it barely (or dosen't) takes itself seriously. As it goes extreme with the silliness, the humor is mixed with the childish and witty, with immature toilet humor and the over-the-top situations the characters go through. However it can get a little too silly, that some of the scenes can feel like filler, instead of having a point. It may be ridiculous, but they really know how to make it fun Score: 8/10 * The Animation: (Now this is a little different for even Dreamworks) Since this film was not directly animated at Dreamworks animation, it was outsourced to Mikros Images in Montreal Canada for a low budget. Leading to a new look that's different then any previous Dreamworks film. The goal of the films visuals is to translate's Pilkey's art into a 3-Dimentional world (a little bit like Blue Sky's did to the Peanuts movie except without a 2-Dimentional look) With the format of textures in hair or clothing, the designs also stay true to how they are in the novels. For the Character animation, since they stay with simple designs, it has no choice to go cartoony with it. It doesn't go overboard with it, and all point to the character's arms and legs to curve when they bend them, especially in the action scenes. The only problem with the animation has to be with the backgrounds being just dull and plain for being a genetic city, and elementary school. The special visuals would come from the characters, like the drawings becoming 2-D animated, and one scene that features sock puppets. Like the story, it knows how to stay faithful to pages, and let it out in a computer animated world. Score: 8/10 * The Characters: All the characters are all really fun to watch, and can actually give a great laugh, but they all seem to be stuck in it's own world that they would forget to add more, then what they are. The problem is with the cast being one-dimentional, leaving with only one part of their personality and that's all with them even with a 5-minute backstory. Starting with the main cast, there is George Beard (who is the one with the tie and a flat top) and Harold Hutchins (who is the one with the tie shirt and a bad haircut. Remember that now) which their friendship is the key theme of the film, when it's in jeopardy when Mr. Krupp was going to send them in separate classes. Their are both best friends and pranksters, that are trying to live up their life, when their school is like a kid-equivalent prison. Mr. Krupp is the mean principal that go against though all of George and Harold's tricks, and have evil delight on their misery. The movie adds more to him to have a lonely side to show why he's always grumpy, even including having a crush on the lunch lady. When he becomes Captain Underpants, he would act like an over-the-top superhero, who has no idea how the real world works. Finally the villein (from the 4th book) Professor Poopypants who is already evil outside from the book, but has a backstory to explain why, and his goal is to get rid the world's laughter so his name can be no longer laughed at, along with some help from the snobbish teacher's pet with no sense of humor, Melvin Smeedly. They all may not offer much in a movie, but at least they're fun to be around with. Score: 7/10 * Recommendation: This can be termed to be the stupidest and mostly immature animated film ever made, but that is reason why it's so enjoyable. He recommends if your were (or still) a fan of Dav Pilkey's work, then this is a must-watch. Or if you want to watch something enjoyable that makes no sense whatsoever then this is for everyone.